Phoenixes: Fawkes

"About time, too. He's been looking dreadful for days; I've been
telling him to get a move on."
-- Albus Dumbledore
about his phoenix Fawkes, after Fawkes burst into flames
(CS12)

The phoenix is a magical bird about the size of a swan. The phoenix has
crimson feathers on its body and a golden tail as long as a peacock's.
Its claws and beak are gleaming gold and its eyes are black.
(These colors happen to be the colors of
Gryffindor House,
interestingly enough.) The scarlet body feathers glow faintly in
darkness, while the golden tail feathers are hot to the touch
(FB,
CS17).
Phoenix tail-feathers are a powerful magical substance
according to Mr. Ollivander, and are suitable for use
as wand cores
(PS5).

Found in Egypt, India, and China, phoenixes nest
on mountain peaks (FB).

Fawkes [1]
is the pet phoenix of Albus Dumbledore, who uses what
appears to be one of Fawkes' scarlet body-feathers as a quill
(OP38).
The wands of both Harry and Voldemort contain feathers from Fawkes'
tail (GF36).
When Fawkes is asked to keep watch
and give warning, or deliver messages, he leaves a single golden
tail feather, which Dumbledore, for one, is careful not to leave
lying around (OP22).

A phoenix can lift a great weight with its tail in flight; when Harry
grasped Fawkes' tail in the
Chamber of Secrets,
he felt as if he were becoming
weightless - which is saying something, as Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart
were in turn hanging on to him
(CS12,
CS17).

Like the diricawl,
the phoenix is herbivorous, and it also shares
with the diricawl the ability to disappear and reappear at will,
although the phoenix does so in a burst of flames
(FB,
CS17). Fawkes has been
known to deliver messages in this manner so quickly that only a
flash of fire in the air has been seen
(OP22).

Phoenix tears have healing properties
(FB,
CS12).
Harry has experienced this on at least
two occasions, both times when he had suffered a poisoned wound
from a powerful magical creature. Only Fawkes' tears saved Harry
from dying together with the
basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets,
as he and the giant serpent had mortally wounded one another almost
simultaneously (CS17).
In the third
task of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry was bitten by the
acromantula
at the center of the maze; during his report to
Dumbledore later that evening, Harry was once again healed
by Fawkes' tears (GF36).

The song of the phoenix gives strength and hope to those it sings for,
'increasing the courage of the pure of heart and striking fear into
the hearts of the impure' according to Scamander
(FB).
When wands sharing a phoenix-feather
cores from the same bird are forced to do battle, the rare
Priori Incantatem
effect that results will be accompanied by the
sound of phoenix song (GF34).

The phoenix's most unusual characteristic is that
after its body begins to fail, it dies in a burst of flame, to be reborn
from the ashes. This occurs not only on a phoenix's natural Burning Day,
but if the phoenix receives a fatal injury, such as being hit with a Killing
Curse (see below).

As a phoenix approaches its Burning Day, it resembles a half-plucked turkey
and makes gagging noises. Its eyes become very dull and its feathers fall
out. Then suddenly it will burst into flames and turn to a pile of ashes
on the floor. From this pile of ashes rises a newborn phoenix, small and
ugly. In a matter of days it becomes a fully grown, beautiful phoenix.
However, Fawkes has also been through this regeneration as the result
of being hit with a Killing Curse
intended for Dumbledore (OP37), so
the effect is not limited to his normal Burning Days. Curiously enough,
Fawkes was not so affected by the gaze of the basilisk in the
Chamber of Secrets; given the rarity of both species, it is possible
that no such confrontation had ever before occurred, so it isn't
surprising that
Scamander
does not record the phoenix's immunity. In fact, given that the
gentle nature of phoenixes is well known
(FB), it's
noteworthy that Fawkes entered into direct combat with the basilisk
at all, as phoenixes are not predators and have little need for
fighting skills even in their own defense.